Plantains for the Win!

I can’t tell you how many times I hear new clients tell me how much they are going to miss bread. Soft and gooey or crispy and crunchy, bread might just be another unspoken language of love.

Memories are created when we “break bread” together, so this may be why it brings on waves of nostalgia when we think about giving it up.

We all have our breaking point and giving up bread is it for most people. This is why it’s one of the very first things I like to address when people are making the transition into the low-carb, keto-life.

Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, you’ll be giving up the traditional bread but like almost everything else in the keto-world, there is a totally yummy substitute for it: green plantains.

The thing about plantain bread, in particular, is that you can eat it straight out of the oven, loaded with grass-fed butter. It’s soft and gooey, totally delish and one of my favorite ways to eat it. For the other half that like their bread crunchy, toasting it, after baking, achieves this.

If you haven't embraced green plantains for all things carb-like yet, you are truly missing out. Green plantains are extremely versatile and have a fantastic consistency for baking. Whether it be pancakes, muffins, or bread, once you try these babies, you'll be hunting them down every time you walk into a grocery store.

Plantains are starchy but have a low-glycemic index because it’s slow-releasing starch, versus its cousin, the banana. They have a neutral flavor, which makes them perfect for baked goods. They are also loaded with vitamin B6, magnesium, vitamin C and are known to help heal peptic ulcers.

The key to making anything “bread-like” with plantains is to make sure they are green. The more ripe they are, the more they’ll taste like bananas and have a watery consistency, which makes them harder to bake with.

My recipes for plantain bread and plantain pancakes were exactly what I needed to complete my transition into the keto-world. When I discovered these gems, it changed everything for me. I’ve even made a video to show you how easy it is to make the bread. You can follow the same instructions, with the extra ingredients, for the pancakes. Click HERE to watch the video.

Do yourself a favor and make one of these two recipes. You, and your family, will thank me for it!

Plantain Bread

Ingredients

2 plantains

2 pasture-raised eggs

1 tbsp of grass-fed butter or coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel plantain by cutting the ends off and then cut through the middle.

Score the halves, lengthwise, and peel away.

Place in blender or food processor and add the eggs and butter or coconut oil.

Blend until smooth and creamy.

Grease a baking dish well and pour in batter. I use a 9x13 glass dish but you can experiment with the size/shape you want depending on how thin/thick you want your bread.

Bake bread for 25-30 minutes, longer if it’s thick.

This grain-free bread is great as a mid-day snack heated up with some butter and cinnamon.

Just be careful that you don’t eat the whole pan of it in one sitting.

Plantain Pancakes

Ingredients

2 large green plantains

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil + extra for cooking

1/8 tsp salt

½ tsp aluminum-free baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Peel plantains-cut the ends off of each side and then cut in half.

Using a knife, score the halves lengthwise and peel.

Put peeled plantains into a Vitamix or blender and add the eggs.

Blend until smooth and then add the rest of the ingredients and blend well on high for at least a full 1-2 minutes or longer in a regular blender.

Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat.

Using a ladle or ¼ cup, pour batter into the frying pan until your pancake is the desired size.

Let cook for 3-4 minutes on the first side, until the top looks fairly dry with little bubbles in it (just like regular pancakes!).

Flip and then cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Add more coconut oil to the frying pan as needed.

The cinnamon almost tricks you into thinking you're eating something sweet. I usually make 1 1/2 batches so I can put the leftovers (if there are any) into the refrigerator so the family can reheat them for breakfast.